Under the auspices of the
Gandhian Institute of Studies, Varanasi; Tamulpur Anchalik Gramdan Sangh, Assam;
Shrambharati Khadigram, Bihar and McMaster University, Canada, the workshop
related to Sarnath Deliberations of the Mahila Shanti Sena was held in the
meeting hall of the Tibetan Institute of Higher Studies on February
14th, 15th and 16th, 2007. Delegates from
different places of eastern
India
, eastern Uttar Pradesh as well as
Bihar participated.

In the opening session of the
workshop Prof. Dipak Malik, director of the Gandhian Institute of Studies,
welcomed all those present while Prof. Ramashanker Singh of McMaster University
of Canada presided.

While welcoming the delegates
Prof. Malik spoke in the context of Gandhi and the world situation. He said
“After Vaishali we have assembled here in Kashi. It would be much better if on
this occasion we enter into a dialogue with Gandhi. In his Hind Swaraj Gandhi
presented the western civilization as satanic. When in January 1915, he came to
India
from
South Africa
,
India
was beset with as much darkness as today. But in this condition Gandhi carved
out his way with the help and co-operation of the common man. Right from its
inception in 1885, the Indian national Congress was nothing but an institution
of the elite. But by wielding it as a common man’s institution Gandhi
transformed its shape and character and sanctified it as an institution of
Satyagraha. The world today is witnessing a new technical institution. We have
yet to understand whether we will make it an instrument of peace or put it to
destructive uses. Even farmers are adopting new techniques. What was formerly an
independent business has been turned into a market today. We have also to take
decision about the multinationals as they are seizing and bringing under their
possession our natural resources.

United States of
America
today has become the axis of the
satanic civilization but chinks have also started appearing into it. The top
economic thinkers of the world today are of the opinion that the
U.S.A.
is passing through a crisis. It appears crystal clear to me that we will take a
turn towards Bapu. The perils of environment and weather toady are gradually
engulfing the entire world. We have to decide in this connection as well as what
actually we have to do. The Gandhian way in this very context has assumed added
importance for us and this is why the relevance of Mahila Shanti Sena has grown
all the more today.”

Throwing light on the objectives
of the workshop Prof. Ramashanker Singh said that light on the objectives of the
Mahila Shanti Sena would be actually thrown by Acharya Ramamurti but there in
the workshop three persons namely Prof. Mahanty, Ms. Aishley White and his own
self were present. “The very first point that I would like to mention is what
those difficulties are which we face during the course of work. We will have to
keep these difficulties in mind. Ms. Ila Bahen has come hare for the first time.
We have to listen to such persons deeming them as our guide and guardian.

I have had a chance to talk to
journalists also but they have taken us as a mere N.G.O. which is completely
wrong. We are related to every section of society. We are functioning as a
movement . Both Vinobha and Gandhi have spoken about women power in their own
way. It were Gandhi who brought women in the national struggle for freedom.
After
India
became free Gandhi talked in
terms of setting democracy on the march. Women movements have occurred in other
parts of the world as well but their aims were limited. As concerns Mahila
Shanti Sena it stands for bringing about a total change in society and creating
altogether a new civilization.”

Expressing his idea on the topic
‘Mahila Shanti Sena : Why and Why Just Now’ Acharya Ramamurti, famous Gandhian
thinker and main speaker of the session said, “Every adult today has got the
right to vote but life has not changed at all. In the middle of the nineteenth
century Marx had said that all civilizations in the world so far have been based
on violence. While agreeing with Marx concerning this statement of his Gandhi
said that such has been the state of affairs in
India
as well. A society free from violence is still quite distant from us. The point
is will man ever be free from violence?... The religion propounded by lord
Buddha was the first such religion as spread in other countries of the world
without the use of the sword. For the work of Mahila Shanti Sena we have chosen
the same area as firstly came under the spell of Buddhism. Not much time has
clasped since the inception of Mahila Shanti Sena. Recollecting days of
India
’s struggle for independence. I
am reminded of the incident when in 1930 Gandhi selected the delicate and young
Sarojini Naidu for leading the Satyagrahi raid on the Dharsana salt depot in
Gujarat. Gandhi had said that Swaraj was a
creative and constructive movement. The Russian revolution too was similar. But
it could not become creative and constructive. If the country today needs a
creative and constructive revolution who will lead it, a woman or a man? It is
now clear that only women can lead a constructive movement. On the basis of some
recent happenings in the country we can say pretty much as a proof to this
assertion….. Since
India
abandoned caring for the hungry
and the starving, compassion (Karuna) has suffered a severe set back in the
country. We have simply become spectators of governmental efforts and look to
actions taken by it. The set back to compassion in man brings about decay of
Dharma. We have assembled at Sarnath with twin aims in view: Leadership in
women’s hands from now on and unremitting practice of compassion in individual
and social life. We have to create a new civilization. This task can creditably
be performed only by women. Today’s meeting has been convened specifically for
this purpose. We have to create a new culture of peace. Let creative and
constructive revolution form the topic for the three-day parleys here. Women
very much deserve a chance now. Women who are credited to have given society a
new life and progeny will now give birth to a new civilization also. I am
offering my faith to this vision.”

Professor Nawang Samten, Director
of the Tibetan Institute of Higher Studies, told the audience that “Lord Buddha
did not deem any man as man’s enemy but the evil in man constituted the real
enemy within. We in our ignorance today have polluted the environment beyond
measure and this has created a crisis for all living beings. These things have
their roots in greed and desire. I am confident that with its small beginnings
Mahila Shanti Sena some day will spread world wide.”

Presiding over the inaugural
session of the workshop Sushri Radha Bhatt, Chairperson of the Gandhi Peace
Foundation,
New
Delhi said that “Woman is by no means frail. She is
powerful in every respect. But how she becomes a symbol of compassion is a
serious point to ponder over…. Reservation should actually be given to those who
deserve it but man can attain high positions in life sans reservation. If we can
strengthen our minds with peace and compassion we can go to any part of the
country wherever the need be.”

The second session in the
afternoon of 14.02.2007 was devoted to submitting report by men and women
members of the Mahila Shanti Sena from different parts of the country. These
reports were submitted by Vishal Nath Rai from Arunacha, Sushri Biju from
Assam
, Sushri Kamla from Manipur,
Mrs. Rashmi Mohanty from Orissa, Mrs. Phoolan Bhattacharya from Tripura and Mrs.
Champa from Bihar. Shri Uma Shanker Chaturvedi from the central office of Mahila
Shanti Sena threw light on the birth and development of the Mahila Shanti Sena.
Ms. Aishley White, research scholar from
McMaster University,
Canada
submitted her Indian tour
report wherein she has emphasized women empowerment and establishment of
peace.

Shri. Ravindra Upadhyaya,
President, Tamulpur Anchalik Gramdan Sangh , who presided over this session ,
put his ideas related to an assessment of the situation in the north-east and
use of science and technique for peace. He threw light on the present situation
of terrorism in the north-east, its causes and presented his ideas about
providing employment to the rural people through the medium of technique and
bringing peace among them.

The third session in the
afternoon centered round Indicators and Methodology, the facilitators. Dr. Gopal
Mohanty, an ex-professor of the
McMaster
University, who presided over this
session, found evaluation as an important aspect of the Mahila Shanti Sena so
that people might know about the Mahila Shanti Sena and how far its work was
successful as concerns building up peace. In this connection he emphasized a few
steps which included work of the Mahila Shanti Sena and its awareness about
participatory democracy and efficiency syndrome. He advised workers connected
with the Mahila Shanti Sena to search indicators to facilitate their work in the
respective areas they belonged to. Shri. Bhanu Panigrahi, a delegate from Orissa
also expressed his views regarding evaluation of Mahila Shanti Sena work. The
participants discussed extensively over this. Those participating in the
discussion included Shri. Ravindra Upadhyaya. Dr. Ramashanker Singh, Ms.
Nivedita Mohanty and Shri. Vishal Nath Rai.

Concluding the session Acharya
Ramamurti expressed his ideas with the following main points:

What the factors are which resist change in individuals and
society. These should be extensively studied.

We need to develop a new definition of nationalism inviting
special attention to change of heart, change of character and change of
endeavor.

On the second day of the workshop
(15.02.2007) Ms. Ila Bhatt, President of the well known organization, ‘SEWA’ and
chief speaker of the fourth session dwelt upon her experiences of the
organization. She said “Ultimately economic issues arrest the main attention of
the people in society and only economic power rules supreme. We have here talked
about functions of civil society and social change. But my main attention is
devoted to providing work and livelihood to the needy and attaining economic
strength. I also believe that the Indian bureaucracy should be civil enough to
give their utmost attention to social service. The most antagonistic
organization to SEWA is the trade union. They neither believe in give and take
nor share their bounties with the laborers. Woman today is in the frontlines to
work for society. Means of production are safe in her hands. Woman is working
responsibly in her own home and family. She will lose nothing of the household
but will bring gains from outside…… As concerns my view Mahila Shanti Sena is a
movement. My suggestion to it is that if it wants to avail anything from SEWA,
it must form cooperatives. These cooperatives may be small or large as the need
be. Let Mahila Shanti Sena forge ahead through these as medium.”

Discussion followed Ms. Ila
Bhatt’s peroration. Through questions and answers delegates tried to understand
one another. Presiding over the session Dr. Ramashanker Singh said in his
submission, “Onwards whenever we assemble anywhere let us focus our attention on
major things. At that time what we will need more and more are the ideas of Ms.
Ila Bhatt and other well-known social activists like her.”

The fifth session of the workshop
focused the Mahila Shanti Sena and the social media. Shri. Sanjay Asthana, the
chief speaker of the session and director of the Varanasi Media Institute, put
his ideas on the Mahila Shanti Sena and the role of the media. He brought before
the audience the deplorable position of not only the distressed, dispossessed
and the exploited sections of society but even the middle class who have all
been pushed to the margin. Sheer neglect is the fate of any talk of original
change or reform in society coming from anywhere. Such talk fails to get any
space in the newspapers. Newspapers today are under the octopus grip of the
market. The dire need of the day is that society builds its own alternate media
system wherein the feelings and aims and aspirations of the common man find full
focus in newspapers.

This session was chaired by Prof.
Dipak Malik. He said that after 1991 the erstwhile history of
India
had been dispensed with and a new dispensation had been brought into existence
through a coup under which the media too had undergone a radical change. Media today
was entirely anti-people and pro the ruling power. In such a dastardly situation
Mahila Shanti Sena was a ray of hope.

In the post lunch and the sixth
session of the workshop discussions were held on Peace and Women. Expressing
their views on the role of Mahila Shanti Sena in bringing about peace, Prof.
Anuradha Dutt, an ex-professor of the political science department of the
University of Guwahati and the chief speaker of the session said, “For the last
forty years one of the things that has been upper most in my mind is how to
bring women out of their confinement in the kitchen. History too is not much
vocal about women. Women had an impressive role in the movement that swept
Assam
on the question of foreigners
and outsiders but when an accord was reached concerning the movement, women had
no place in it. Boys and girls in
Assam
’s present ‘Bodo’ movement have
been placed in two cadres. Nagas in
Assam
have formed Naga Mother
Association. The crucial question, however, is: Can women become a constructive
force for peace? States in this respect have utterly failed. Both Naga and Bodo
women today are engaged in different types of peace efforts. Mahila Shanti Sena
must take up constructive activities and from this viewpoint Mahila Shanti Sena
women have a special role to play. Time has actually come when women have to
take part in politics also.” Students, both boys and girls, named Mr. Mushtaq,
Mr. Jahoor, Ms. Asma and Ms. Ambreen, all from
Jammu and Kashmir also participated in this
discussion. Expressing their views on the state of affairs prevailing in Kashmir
today they emphasized the need for peace in
Kashmir also.

Presiding over the session Shri.
Rama Chandra Rahi, Secretary of the Central Gandhi Nidhi,
New Delhi, laid stress on
women’s role in weaning society away from violence and exploitation and taking
it towards peace and non-violence. Women abound in feelings of love and
compassion. Starting with their own selves they have to go upto the level of the
whole creation. The Mahila Shanti Sena has to reach wherever violence occurs.
With such ends in view service and training must go hand in hand. “Our empathy
must be with the hungry man and we must put in all efforts to see that none remains
hungry in our vicinity. Mahila Shanti Sena, therefore, has the responsibility to
carry out economic programmes. Mahila Shanti Sena must also take into its
purview social evils. What is of utmost importance is that our momentum must not
be impeded.”

This was followed by an open
discussion wherein Messrs. Krishnakumar, Brajesh, Niti Bhai, Kamaluddin Sheikh,
Arun Kumar, Ramashanker Singh and Ms. Kanchan Bala, Acharya, Muniza Rafiq Khan,
Jagriti Rahi, Kamlavati, Radha Bhatt and others participated. Ideas and points
that emerged from the discussions are as under:

Mahila Shanti Sena must have its annual meeting wherein main
problems of regions should be focused.

The Rapid Action Force must be supported with a bag containing
books on different subjects for information. For economic cooperation 50 paise
or a handful of corn should be requested from every individual. This will
constitute financial help to Mahila Shanti Sena and people will feel tagged to
it also.

Every member of the Mahila Shanti Sena must have an identity
card with provision for renewal.

Mahila Shanti Sena should find publicity among youth
especially college and university students.

Female illnesses and diseases must find speedy and effective
treatment.

Adjoining and nearby villages with the Nepalese boundaries
must be saved against Nepalese insurgency.

Pressure groups on Mahila Shanti Sena’s behalf should be
formed to checkmate casteist rumours.

Every Mahila Shanti Sena member must keep a diary wherein
important things should find mention on a daily basis.

All Gandhian Institutions should be linked together and they
should function jointly with a common minimum programme.

The Mahila Shanti Sena should have its committee on the
national level and this committee should provide guidance to Mahila Shanti
Sena members engaged in the movement as also people in general.

Mahila Shanti Sena should take up handicapped and mentally
deformed children also.

In the afternoon of the seventh
session of the workshop discussions were held over Mahila Shanti Sena
relationship with other social organizations, financial cooperation and work
ahead. This session was chaired by Ms. Phoolan Bhattacharya, a well known
journalist of the north-east and one having abiding interest in the Mahila
Shanti Sena. Dr. Ramashanker Singh tendered the following suggestions:

1.Number of such villages should be increased where hunger
does not prevail and none goes hungry. Mahila Shanti Sena is obliged to see that
none in the village is hungry.

2.Regional conferences should be held in collaboration
with local voluntary organizations and social groups.

3.Lecture series should be organized in universities to
help create new leadership.

4. Literature
should be produced for the use of Mahila Shanti Sena and knowledge-fairs should
be organized.

5.A news bulletin should be brought out for the use of
Mahila Shanti Sena to help disseminate Mahila Shanti Sena news, ideas and
activities.

6.For financial cooperation whatever is feasible should be
done but the contribution of Re. one, that is, each one rupee one, should not be
overlooked.

In her presidential address Ms.
Phoolan Bhattacharya drew attention of those present to the fact that people had
started believing us. What was needed was that Mahila Shanti Sena work should
not be mere ostentation and show but instead should have a genuine streak of
social consciousness. What was deplorable was that now child bearing and rearing
them up was becoming a burden for women. This dreaded situation must be ended.
What was actually needed for women today was that they should have qualities of
leadership and they should come forward to lead.

The closing function of the
workshop was held on 16.02.2007. Throwing light on the historical significance
of Sarnath the Sarnath Declaration highlights the following points:

Our work is to devote ourselves for a violence-free life. We
want such life in our households and neighbourhood as is peaceful and free
from violence.

For us this entire creation is our neighbourhood. Differences
and diversities exist in such a vast neighbourhood. But the whole creation
points to one creator.

Our first concern is for such a war-free world where peace
reigns in the family and neighbourhood.

In the world of today alternative lies between total peace and
total annihilation. In such perilous times if we women proceed jointly and
unitedly we can become a great creative force.

We have to learn to say ‘No’ to violent feuds and disputes.
This ‘No’ is symbolic of our firm determination and reminiscent of our
resolve.

Time has afforded this great opportunity to we Mahila Shanti
Sena members for developing a
peaceful and rich life. We can present a specimen of a new culture of peace
and participatory democracy.

Justice Chandrashekhar
Dharmadhikari was to deliver the valedictory address of this function but due to
some personal reasons he could not come. In his absence Acharya Ramamurti delivered the address.

Drawing attention of those having
witnessed the initiation of the Mahila Shanti Sena and its gradual development,
Acharya Ramamurti reminded the delegates of the communal riot in Noakhali,
Bengal, in 1947 when Gandhi said that who knew that he would prove to be the
first and last Shanti-Sainik but if from somewhere Gandhi’s soul might be
witnessing that day’s function and had done the same about the previous ones, he would
surely come to realize that he was undoubtedly the first Shanti Sainik but by no
means the last…….. What actually is the difference between democracy as
practised by Vaishali and the one as espoused by the Mahila Shanti Sena?
Answering the question Acharyaji himself said that Buddha’s dictum was: ‘Meet, talk and agree, that is, go on
talking till an agreement is reached.’ Mahila Shanti Sena also pins its faith to
this dictum and not to that democracy which is based upon majority and minority
opinion. Gandhi had given birth to political nationalism but this sort of
nationalism today will not meet demands of the times. Today the entire life of
man has to be freed from violence. If we failed to do meaningful efforts in this
direction the world will condemn us as good for nothing. We have to go much
beyond Gandhi and have to continue doing so. Jayaprakash had given new
dimensions to this movement by calling it Sampurna Kranti or Total
Revolution.

Highlighting the historical
importance of Sarnath Acharyaji said that if a new civilisation had to be
initiated no better place could be found than Sarnath. About three thousand
years ago Sarnath had presented those sublime words of Buddha, the Enlightened
One, which can very well form the basis of a new civilization. The world today
is gripped by a world-wide violence. Who will deliver us from this fear and who
will take the first step in the direction of deliverance? Acharyaji pointed out
that from the viewpoint of creating a new civilization and also for taking the
very first step, Sarnath excels all other places. Acharyaji further remarked,
“It is an article of faith with me that members of the Mahila Shanti Sena this
time will not only give birth to children but will also give birth to a new
civilization.”

The programme was conducted by
Prof. Dipak Malik, while Dr. Muniza Rafiq Khan, Secretary, GIS, offered thanks
to the participants as well as to all those who worked to make the workshop a
success: The function ended with the world peace song : ‘Hum Honge Kaamyaab;……
that is, We shall overcome.’

l

RESPONSE RECEIVED FROM PARTICIPANTS

Nivedita Scudder from Unnayan, Orissa wrote the following
message on the Sarnath deliberations:

Banaras was the
setting for a session of sharing and brainstorming on the present status of the
MSS and its future. And what a session it was! An honest, down-to-earth,
from-the-heart sharing from all the participants. There was concern but also
immense satisfaction at the impact of the training amongst women at the
grassroot level. Like Rashmi said, it seems to touch the very soul of the women
so that they feel empowered in the true sense of the word.

Through sharing we learnt the
different shades of violence and conflict: political, gender, caste, religious
or economic, that exists in different the states and the trauma experienced by
women in these areas. The courage of the Shanti Sainiks in the face of such
grave and complex situations and the strength of their conviction in the Mahila
Shanti Sena process was an eye-opener for us.

In spite of inadequate funding much
seems to have been achieved in this short span of time and going by the
commitment of the group the MSS movement for peace and harmony is set to grow
from strength to strength. We have returned to our work encouraged and inspired.
Gandhiji will not be the last Shanti Sainik, for thousands of women in rural
India
will continue his work and
carry the torch for peace and harmony.

Notes from the editor of MSS
newsletter:I
have already invited your response to become a member of this yahoogroup. Hope,
you have already received the invitation through your mail. Please submit your
acceptance to become a member of this group that will circulate the Mahila
Shanti Sena newsletter on a regular basis to its
members.